NYC Tremors
by Dakota-Jones
Summary: It's a sunny August afternoon in Manhattan in 1899. The newsies are scattered all over the city, selling their papers. Now we change history. The biggest earthquake in history hits Manhattan right then. Can the Newsies find each other? Can they survive?
1. What the Hell?

AN: Time to change history, people. I'm ready. Are you?

Summary: A whole lot of movies have been made about when the 'big earthquake' hits NYC. Well, it's about to. It's 3 o 'clock in NYC, on a sunny August afternoon in 1899. All the newsies are scattered all over the city selling their papers. And that's when the ground begins to shake. Will they ever find everyone? Or the bigger question…

Did everyone make it out alive?

Kid Blink

            "Dog saves owner from inferno! Fido becomes a hero!" I screamed, making my way down the crowded street. I was so mad at myself that I could barely concentrate on selling, but I managed to sell a few.

            Why did I have to snap at him? I knew he would get mad. I knew he would run off like that. And now my selling partner was off selling by himself in Manhattan.

            _He can take care of himself. Don't worry about it. You'll see him at Tibby's tonight and you can apologize._

Yeah, right. Don't worry about it. Like I'd ever be able to do that. I sold my last paper, and then I groaned and took off running. I had to find him and apologize. It couldn't just wait until Tibby's. Something told me I had to do it _now_.

            I rehearsed it in my head: "I'm sorry, Mush. I didn't mean to say that about your mother. It was just…"

            Well, Kid, what was it? A mistake? A reflex? Yeah, right. You know he's all sensitive about his mother and stuff, ever since she kicked the bucket. And you had to go and say something stupid. Real smart, Blink, real smart. He always warned you about keeping your temper in check, and who do you lose it on? Your best friend, and the person who warned you in the first place!

            Where would he have gone? Bottle Alley? Central Park? I had no idea. 

            Shit. I would just have to take a guess.

            Just as I turned to make my way to Central Park, the ground began to shake beneath my feet…

Racetrack

            "Extra! Extra! Read all about it! Woman accused of killing her husband in da Bronx!" I screamed over the roar of the crowd at the tracks. Of course, the guy had gotten food poisoning by food his wife had cooked, but murder sounded so much better.

            I sold a few papers and then sat down, lighting up a cigar and watching the race continue. I had bet on number seven, AppleSider. And she was looking as lucky as ever today.

            I wondered who I would borrow rent for tonight from if she lost- I had bet my last nickel on her. Maybe Mush would be in the mood to chip in to the 'save Race from his gambling addiction taking him to the grave' fund, as it had come to be known. Maybe Swifty had a few extra pennies on him, too. I'd have to ask real nicely, since this was the second time this week.

            Or maybe she'd actually win…wouldn't that be a blessing!

            But she never got the chance. No horse won the race that afternoon. Because as I sat there, the ground began to move of its own accord, and the horses scattered and fell like dominos…

Dutchy

            Wow. 10 cents. I actually found a copy of the book Specs had been wanting for only 10 cents! Not to mention this was the day that I had to have it…the party was tonight, and I don't know what I would've done if I hadn't found it by then.

            I rushed to the counter, holding the coveted paperback in my hands and digging out my extra change. I'd been saving up the whole week, and searching a different bookstore every single day, and I finally got lucky…not only that, but I'd have enough change left over for dinner and rent!

            "Um, sir? Could ya do me a favor?" I asked as the cashier took the book from me. He smiled, and I was relieved that this was a pretty generous looking man.

            "Sure, kid. What do you need?"

            "Could ya wrap that up for me? Nothin' fancy…it's just a present for someone, and I want him ta be able ta unwrap it."

            He smiled and reached under the counter, pulling out a large sheet of brown paper and wrapping up the book, and then he tied it with twine. It was perfect. I handed him the dime, beaming as I took the package from him.

            "Thanks!"

            "No problem."

            I walked out of the store, tucking the book into the bag that I had carried every day this week just in case I found it. I didn't want Specs to see it before his birthday party tonight.

            Just as I began walking and hawking the headlines again, the street jerked beneath my feet…

Skittery

            I had sold all my papers already, a rarity for me. I sat down on the steps of a nearby building and lit up a cigarette, grateful for the extended break. 

            "Hey Skittery! How's it rollin?"

            Specs practically leaped up to sit beside me on the steps, and I just shrugged.

            "The usual. Just finished sellin' my papes. Oh…happy birthday. It is your birthday, right?"

            "Yeah. Hey listen, you seen Dutchy? I think he's been avoidin' me da last few days…"

            "He ain't been avoidin' ya. And if he has been, he's got his reasons."

            "How do you know?"

            "I jest know. Trust me on dis one."

            He mumbled something about me and my moods, stealing my cigarette and taking a drag off it. I didn't complain…he was always doing that to me.

            "Well, I'm gonna go find him. Wanna come? I mean, since you're finished sellin' and all…"

            "No thanks. I'm gonna sit here and enjoy da scenery."

            "Skittery…that's a brick wall."

            "I know."

            He shook his head and stood up. "You need therapy, Skitts…"

            I was about to respond with a snide remark, but I didn't. Probably because the ground was trembling underneath me…

AN: The suspense! I love it! I hope you love it too. And if you love it, review. Hey, if ya don't love it, review anyway!

Next chapter, the quake takes its toll…  


	2. All Hell Breaks Loose

AN: I'm not gonna say anything right now…I want you to read the story, not my insane ramblings…so read and review!

Kid Blink

            What the hell?! The ground is not supposed to move…it's supposed to stay put!

            Those were the thoughts flying through my head as I was thrown violently to the sun heated ground, skinning my knees but not really caring, considering that a huge crack had just split the ground underneath me. I rolled away from it as it opened up about five inches, only to find myself in the path out an out of control horse- with a carriage still attached to it!

            Someone grabbed me by the jacket and hauled me out of the way, and I was immensely relieved to see Jack standing there, trying to hold his balance. Things were falling to the ground all around us, and the cracks and roars of buildings breaking and falling were deafening.

            "Come on, Blink!" Jack yelled, and I realized that the building we were beside was bulging dangerously outward toward the street. I jumped to my feet, trying to gain my footing on the earth as it rolled and heaved beneath me.

            That's when the building fell, and I fell once again as debris slammed into my back. I felt a sharp pain as I tried to push myself up, and as more bricks and wood fell around me, I did the only thing I could think of…covering my head and praying.

            The screams. Oh, God, I'll never forget the screams I was hearing. Sirens were wailing, whistles were blowing, and the noise that the earth itself was making was enough to wake the dead. I felt like I should've been crying, sobbing like a two year old even, but something in the back of my mind was yelling at me that this was not the time or place to be giving in and acting like a child.

            And just as suddenly as it had started, the earth stopped moving. I felt like I had been laying there for hours while the world ended around me, but when I thought about it, it couldn't have lasted longer than a minute. I guess I'll never know, because the nearby clock tower had stopped dead when the quake started.

            "Blink! Are you okay, Kid?"

            I lifted my head and promptly began coughing- my throat was coated with dust. In fact, my whole body was now covered with dust. Jack appeared beside me, none the worse for wear as he began pushing various forms of building materials off of me.

            "Can you get up? Are you hurt?" he asked, and I slowly pushed myself up onto my knees, feeling pain in every single limb of my body.

            "I think I'm okay…" I said despite the stabbing pain in my lower back. "What about you?"

            "Just a few scratches. I'm fine. Where's Mush? Wasn't he selling with you?"

            Oh, God, no. Mush was out there…alone…during an earthquake. 

But I would turn this whole damn city upside down to find him.

Racetrack

            Everything seemed to move into slow motion as the ground began to tremble.

            And then Mother Nature sent her sledgehammer down on us.

            The bleachers collapsed from underneath me, and I found myself flung forward onto the ground. I heard screams of pain as the bleachers- made of solid iron- came down on top of a few unlucky souls. I tried to stand up, but getting balance was impossible with the ground tossing everyone around like rag dolls. A woman fell against me, and I held her up so she wouldn't be trampled in the crowd.

            I'd never forget the look on her face. Her beautiful face was now twisted in pain and horror, and only then did I realize that I was holding up someone who was already dead. A post from the bleachers was sticking clear through her body.

            I shoved her away from me, feeling the urge to throw up but not having time to do so before I realized that the announcer's tower was coming down straight toward the bleachers. I dived for cover under a trackside bench, the 'clang' of metal hitting metal practically deafening me. The main box on the tower had landed right on the bench, and I was now pinned securely to the dirt.

            That meant I could only do one thing- wait and see if I survived. It was getting harder and harder to breath as the bench pressed down on me, but I felt grateful for the protection since I could see immense pools of blood forming where the tower had squashed a few people who weren't fast enough.

            I began to do something I hadn't done in years- I began to pray. I found, to my surprise, that the words my mother had taught me to pray with were right there at the tip of my tongue, sliding out of my mouth even faster and smoother than when I'd been saying them every night.

            And then, the ground stood still. And I began to wonder if anyone would even notice me down here.

            I tried to yell for help, but my mouth couldn't seem to form words. I was shaking so bad that it was almost like the ground was still moving beneath me. Finally, I managed to get my mind back into play.

            "Somebody…help me!" I yelled, for once not so full of pride that I couldn't ask for help. "Help! Please!"

            "Where are you?" 

            It could've been the voice of an angel, for all I cared. Somebody had heard me, and they were obviously willing to help. I was surprised I could be heard among all the other cries for help and shouts of pain that I was hearing.

            "I'm under the tower…the bench has me pinned!" I explained as loud as I could over the commotion outside. I couldn't see much of anything- twisted iron was blocking my view.

            "Are you hurt?"

            "I…I don't think so. It's hard to breathe, though!"

            Silence for a moment, and then another voice spoke. "It's gonna take a while, but we'll get you outta there, kid. What's your name?"

            "Racetrack!"

            A gasp. "Race, is that really you? We thought you were a goner! Hang in there, we're trying to figure out how to get you out!"

            I wasn't surprised that he knew me- most of the employees at the track do. What worried me was hearing them talk about how heavy that tower was…and the span of _days it would take to find a way to lift it…_

Dutchy

            I leaned against the outside of the bookstore for support, wondering why in the world the ground would be shaking. Then all hell broke loose.

            Even the wall didn't save me from being thrown into the street the first time the ground heaved upwards. I heard people screaming as the ground continued to pull things down into it- that's right, pull them down. Buildings were collapsing like dominos, one right after the other.

            I suddenly smelled the strong scent of smoke, and I rolled onto my back to find that the bookstore I had just walked out of had gone up in flames. I immediately thought of the man who had sold me the book, and I stumbled to my feet and made my way to the door. For a moment I hesitated- this place was going to go down any second, just like all the others. Dozens of people had probably already died.

            In the end, I pushed the door open, and the smoke rolled out into the street. I covered my mouth with my shirt- easier said than done, trying to keep my balance in a flame filled building with the ground doing a tap dance under me. Luckily, he was still at the cash register, which was right beside the door. I grabbed him by the sleeve and dragged him out, pushing him out into the street. 

            I stumbled and fell once again, unable to keep my footing as there was an especially violent jerk. The street was now split in half, a jagged crack running all the way down the center of it and widening by the second. 

            Quite suddenly, as I curled up into a tight ball to try and 'wait out the storm', a dog ran up to me and stuck its nose in my face, as if it were asking me if I was okay. It was a small, scraggly brown dog, now turned black from soot and dust with only brown patches here or there.

            Then the earth stood still. It was eerie, almost, after a hell on earth for what seemed like hours but was, in truth, only moments.

            I pulled myself to my feet as the screams and sounds of crackling fire reached my ears, and then the man from the bookstore pulled me into a tight hug, sobbing hysterically. He then stumbled away, talking to himself the whole way as he stared at what used to be his store.

            _I have to find the others. Specs said he was selling at Bottle Alley today…that's where I'll go, I thought, trying to keep my mind clear and realizing that I couldn't possibly help every single injured person on the street._

            I started to walk through the wreckage, and after a moment I noticed that I had a tagalong. The little brown dog was following me over the debris, wagging its tail and looking up at me with sparkling  brown eyes.

            "Well, if you's gonna come, you's gonna hafta keep up. I ain't carryin' ya."

Specs

            Skittery and I looked at each other with the same expression on our face…what the hell?!

            There was a sudden jolt that knocked me to my knees and threw Skittery off the steps, and my mind completely froze. What was happening? The ground doesn't just move all by itself!

            It was a loud 'cracking' sound that brought me to my senses, and I sprang to my feet along with Skittery. We were in an alley, equal distance from the street on both sides and with two huge brick buildings on either side.

            And they were both about to collapse inward.            

            "GO!" Skittery screamed, pushing me toward the street. I took off, stumbling on almost every step with the ground trying to pull me down to meet it. 

            We were almost there, but we just weren't fast enough. But just before the buildings hit the ground, I felt Skittery's hands on my back, and with one last ditch effort, he shoved me out of the alley.

            The ground shook even harder as the 'boom' from the buildings hitting the ground added to the chaos. I leaped to my feet and spun around, ready to get Skittery away from that God forsaken alley and to safer grounds.

            But he was nowhere to be seen; only a pile of rubble.

            He hadn't made it.

            "SKITTERY!" I screamed, jumping onto the pile of bricks and wood and trying to throw the wreckage away. Tears and dust stung my eyes, but it didn't matter. Not even the fact that the earth was still jarring every movement mattered. Skittery could be dead, and it would be my fault.

            Finally, the ground fell still. It sounded like a war zone…the thunder of roaring fires, the sobs of women and children…screams for help, none of which I recognized as Skittery's. 

            "What happened? Is there somebody in there?" A man asked, stepping onto the pile next to me.

            "It's Skittery…He was still in the alley…" I managed to choke out among my sobs, and I could see the pity on the man's face. He turned around and whistled, and I was stunned when two other men came running over to us.

            "There's a kid trapped under all this. We've got to get him out." The man told his two friends. I looked closer, and I realized that there was a badge on the man's belt. He was a fireman, and his two friends obviously were as well.

            _Skittery…hang in there…don't die on me!_

AN: Review, please!


	3. Pain and Worries

AN: Thanks for all the reviews, guys! I feel so loved…anyway, on with chapter three!

Oh, and we add a new viewpoint in this chapter…we get to find out what happened to Mush…

Kid Blink

            "Wait! Where are you goin', Blink?" Jack asked as I began to stumble away.

            "I gotta find Mush…"

            "You mean he wasn't with you? He's always with you! Where is he?"

            I shoved him out of my path angrily. "He's mad at me, okay! He stormed off! I don't have a damn clue where he is!"

            Jack was unperturbed by my fit of anger. "Alright, just calm down. We'll find him. Where'd you last see him?"

            "Lunch. Outside of Tibby's."

            "Shit…he coulda gone anywhere from there."

            "Exactly!"

            "Stay calm, okay? Getting' mad ain't gonna help us find him."

            A woman stumbled up to us, her dress ripped and muddy. "Have you boys seen my child…my little girl…" she coughed out, blood mixing with the tears dripping down the side of her face. I took one look at Jack and he understood.

            "I'll help ya find her, miss." Jack said, leading her gently away by the elbow. I turned my attention back toward trying to walk, but I wasn't doing all that great. I had a feeling that I was more hurt than I'd originally thought, but I kept going.

            "Blink…Blink! Help me out heah!"

            I turned toward the sound of the voice to find Snitch half buried under a huge piece of twisted metal. I rushed over, telling him to get out on the count of three.

            "1…2…3!" 

            I lifted it as high as I could and he scrambled out. He then tested his legs, relieved to find them uninjured. "Thanks! I thought I'd be under dere forever!"

            "No problem. Have you seen Mush?"

            "Um…I saw him about an hour ago. He said he was gonna try selling in Little Italy until dinner."

            Great. Not only was I a long way away from there, but if Mush was hurt, there weren't a lot of people who could speak his language and help him! "Thanks Snitch. I gotta go."

            "I wouldn't recommend it."

            "Why da hell not?!"

            He looked nervous, and I knew something was wrong.

            "I overheard a couple of bulls sayin dat Little Italy got hit pretty hard, along with Bottle Alley. They're ropin' 'em off. Even if ya got dere through all dis, dey wouldn't let ya in."

            "Ovah my dead body!" I hissed, turning and starting to leave. Snitch caught up to me and took my pace, and I gave him a double take. "What are ya doin', Snitch?"

            "I'm gonna help ya look. He's my friend, too." 

Mush

            As I tried to bandage his arm, the man let out a string of what I assumed were Italian curses, trying to yank his arm away from me.

            "Hold still! You ain't gonna stop bleedin' unless I bandage dis!" I insisted, and his wife hastily translated for me. I tied off the wrap and stood up, hoping it would stay on at least until he got proper medical treatment. 

            Speaking of medical treatment…I wiped the blood off my forehead where it had almost been dripping into my eyes. The cut on my head had bled through three bandages, and I was getting quite dizzy. I walked a ways away from the family I had been helping, sitting down on some steps.

            God, what I would give for Blink to be here right now. I should've remembered that he was already in a bad mood and that this was not the day to tease him…it was partly my fault that he blew up like that. And now I had no idea where he was, or if he was even alive.

            _No. Don't think that way. He's alive. He's gotta be. _

            "Sir? Sir?" I looked up, meeting eyes with a boy that looked pretty young, around 8 or so. "Would you please come make better my mother and sisters? I think they be hurting." he asked in broken and heavily accented English.

            "Sure. Where is she?"

            He took my hand and led me down two alleys to the remains of a small house. And what I saw next made me wish that I had the guts to say no.

            I stepped to the first body in the wreckage. It was barely recognizable as even being human. Her eyes were wide open, her face frozen in the same expression of horror that she had dies with, and her torso looked like it had been put through a meat grinder. I reached down and found her wrist, checking for a pulse even though I already knew the outcome. She was dead.

            I looked up at the boy and shook my head, and though tears began to fall, he led me to another spot in the charred wreckage.

            This girl was in practically the same condition. I could barely keep from vomiting as I found out that her right arm was no longer attached to her body. I didn't even check for a pulse before shaking my head.

            He led me on, and I envied him for the strength to even come back here, to even contain any hope at all that they might live.

            _Blink might be like this. He might be…NO!_

            I choked back a sob, and then kneeled down next to the third body. But this time, hope was shining down on us. She was badly wounded, but she was alive.

            "Miss? Miss? Can you hear me? Do you speak English?" I asked gently. Her eyes searched for a moment, and then focused on me. She nodded.

            "My…my daughters…" she asked.

            "They didn't make it." I said. Probably the hardest thing I'd ever had to say.

            "My…son?"

            "He's here. He's right here."

            The mother and son had a short, difficult conversation in Italian. Then the mother put her eyes back on me.

            "I am going to die. Here."

            It wasn't a question. It was an observation. I knew she was right, and I wasn't going to lie and try to cheer her up in her last moments of life.

            "Do you…have a family?"

            "No, ma'am."

            "Where do you stay, child?"

            "I'm a newsie. I live in a lodgin' house in Manhattan with the other newsies." 

            She spoke briefly in Italian with her son. Then she said to me, "Will you take Antonio…to this place…and watch over him for me?"

            Every sentence was getting harder and harder for her. "Yes, ma'am, if that's what you want."

            She slid her hand across the charred wood and gently took my hand in hers. "God bless you, boy."

            With one more phrase in Italian to her son, her eyes closed and her hand lost its grip on mine.

Racetrack

            "You know, Race, maybe this is God trying to tell you that gambling is unhealthy for a kid your age."

            "Would ya shut your trap and get dis thing offa me?! I'd like ta be able ta breath heah!"

            "Okay, okay. Hold on. We're thinkin' as fast as we can!"

            "Yeah, you nevah was good at fast thinkin', were ya?"

            I stopped talking, mainly afraid that I would use up all the oxygen under this thing. It was hard enough to breathe as it was without snapping at the people who were trying to save me.

            Suddenly I heard a snap, and I let out a strangled cry as the weight on me seemed to triple.

            "RACE! Are you okay?" A voice yelled from outside the rubble. I tried to respond, but found that I couldn't get enough air in my lungs to speak without some serious pain.

            "Hurry…" I managed to squeak out.

            "He's still alive! We gotta get in there, boys! As in, NOW!"

            "If we move the thing, it could totally collapse. He'd never survive that."

            "Can we break it apart somehow?"

            "That's solid iron, you dope!"

            I suddenly came up with an idea, and I banged on the iron with my free hand to get their attention.

            "You alright, Race?"

            I took as deep a breath as I could manage. "The…horses…carriage harnesses…"

            "What?...Oh! That's perfect! Race, you's a genius!"

            _Not for long, I thought as a black fog began to set in at the corners of my vision. I was suffocating. It was like breathing through a straw._

            "Race, we're gonna try it, Okay?............Race? Race! He's not talkin', guys! Let's do this!"

            "Where is he?"

            I immediately recognized that voice- I'd recognize the voice of David Jacobs any day. What was he doing at the track?!

            "Race, it's me, David. Hang in there. We're gonna get you out, okay?"

            _As if I haven't heard that before, _I thought as the whole world fell into darkness.

Dutchy

            It took me longer than usual to get to where I thought Specs would be, and I saw Boots and Snipeshooter along the way, both of them shaken up but not too badly injured. They told me they'd seen both Specs and Skittery down by the general store right before the quake.

            "Dutchy! Dutchy!"

            I found Specs working with three other men, digging into a pile of what I thought used to be a building. As soon as I saw Specs's face, I knew something had gone horribly wrong. It wasn't often that he cried.

            Come to think of it, hadn't Boots said that Skittery was with Specs? I did a double take, and realized just what Specs was doing.

            Oh, God, no!

            "Dutchy, ya gotta help. Skittery pushed me outta da alley, and then…and then the buildings…" he broke down into sobs, and I climbed up the pile to him, beginning to dig beside him.

            "We're gonna find him, okay?" I insisted, noticing the puppy laboriously making its way up to me and starting to dig beside us. _Smart dog, I thought to myself._

            And a moment later, he went from just 'smart dog' to 'angel dog'. He started barking, and then I noticed that he was tugging on a piece of fabric. A piece of fabric with a hand sticking out of it.

            "We found him!" I yelled, and the men came over and began digging frantically to free Skittery.

            Two of the men pulled Skittery out of the rubble, and I immediately thought the worst. He was completely limp, and there was blood leaving a trail on the ground as they carried him back to solid ground. 

            Specs and I rushed down just as the man was feeling for a pulse. He checked Skittery's wrist, looked a bit worried, and then reached up and pressed his fingers to Skittery's neck.

            "He's alive." He announced, and before I could even respond myself Specs had let out a sob of relief and was hugging me so tight I couldn't breath.

            "I think he's gonna be okay. We'll get him bandaged up and then we'll leave him with you. We've got other people to help now." One of the men said, and we nodded in agreement.

            "What are we gonna do when he wakes up?" Specs asked.

            "Well, we need to go check on Kloppman. See if the lodging house survived this."

            "Sounds good ta me. And what's with da dog, Dutchy? I could kiss dat thing right now!" Specs asked, referring to the little furry creature now sitting right beside me and wagging its tail once again.

            "I don't know…it's been following me ever since the earthquake."

            Specs picked up the dog, and then made true on his words- he kissed it on the nose and held it tightly to his chest. "I don't care about the 'no animals' rule. We're keepin' dis one. It's a bonafide angel."

            "I'll agree with ya there."

AN: Um…nothing to write here…just review! 

Next chapter…aftershocks…


	4. Aftershocks and Just Plain Shocks

AN: Time for some aftershocks…and a surprise visit by the Delancey brothers themselves, who aren't all too thrilled about the outcome of the strike and decide to take it out on a desperate newsie…

Skittery

            I opened my eyes slowly, trying to block out the dull pain in my neck and head as I focused on trying to see clearly. Specs and Dutchy were standing over me, and as soon as they realized I was awake, they helped me sit up.

            "What…happened?" I asked, my own voice sending a sharp pain through my skull.

            "Well, do ya want da long version or da short one?" Specs asked.

            "Um…short, please…"

            "Well, you jest saved my life, had two buildings fall on ya, and were saved by a stray dog all in da space of about one hour."

            Ouch. No wonder my head hurt. A dog suddenly leaped onto me, licking my face and refusing to stop until Dutchy pulled it off of me.

            "You'll have to excuse Angel. She jest likes ya." Dutchy said with a grin.

            "I guess I owe 'Angel' heah a thank you, don't I?" I said, petting the dogs head. "And I owe you guys a thank you. Da last thing I remember is runnin' for cover and not quite makin' it."

            "And saving my life. Lemme tell ya, if you evah need anything at all, come straight ta me. I owe you big time." Specs said. I vaguely remembered shoving him out of the alley, and I realized that in doing so I _had_ saved his life.

            "Right now…a cigarette would do jest fine."

            They just laughed, and I slowly pushed myself to my feet, and they ended up catching me when I almost fell flat on my face. "Let's try and get back to da lodgin' house." Specs suggested.

            A very bad thought suddenly hit me as I surveyed the nearby damage. "If dere is a lodgin' house left ta go to."

            The ground suddenly shook again, but this time, it wasn't half as bad as the first one. We all three ducked down as wreckage rained from the sky once again from buildings that hadn't quite fallen yet, and we heard the distant 'crash' of another one hitting the ground.

            Getting to the lodging house may be harder than we thought if the earth was going to keep shaking.

David

            I held Les back as the men hooked the horses up to the fallen tower, going as fast as they could. I had a bad feeling about this though; it had been about four minutes since Race had last spoken to us.

            _All these guys must have families to check on, and yet they're all staying to save Race. He must be really well liked around here, I thought as the men yelled at each other to 'get a move on'. The rescue effort had attracted quite a lot of attention, and people with nothing better to do stood around, watching and waiting to see if Race would come out of this alive. As far as we knew, He was the only person in the immediate area who had survived the collapse of the tower._

            And now he may be dead too.

            "Alright, on the count of three, get those horses moving!" The man in charge yelled to the riders. "1…2…3!"

            All the horses began pulling at once, and the scraping of metal was heard, along with a few more snaps as the cables and beams broke. It started out slow, but once they got the tower moving, they pulled it off the bench in a matter of a few seconds.

            It was hard to believe Race had survived any length of time underneath that thing. There was hardly any room underneath it.

            "We need a lever! Bring that beam over here!" I yelled, and they followed my orders, sticking the beam under the bench and pressing down on the other end. As the bench rose just enough, I grabbed Racetrack by the shirt and pulled him out from under it, picking him up and passing him off to a doctor we had standing by.

            I knew it was bad when the doctor laid him down in the dirt and immediately started checking for a pulse and breathing. The men who had worked so hard to save him were holding their breath and watching carefully as the doctor checked for any signs of life in the seemingly lifeless body of Racetrack Higgins.

            "He's breathing. We did it." The doctor said, and the whole area burst out into cheers.  

            I rushed over to Race as he slowly came to, finally getting some fresh air into his lungs. He looked up at me and smiled.

            "Hey Davey…what brings you to the tracks?"

            That was Racetrack for you. He almost dies, and the first thing he asks when he wakes up is 'What are you doing here?'

            "I was actually coming down here to sell, Race. I was sick of you bugging me about it, if you must know." I hugged him, much to his surprise. "And I'm glad I was here to keep an eye out for you."

            The earth suddenly trembled again, and what was left of the tower broke apart and fell into a jumbled heap. We'd had about one minute of leeway before Race would've been done for.

Oscar      (Yes, _that_ Oscar. As in Oscar Delancey.)

            "Hey Morris…look what we got heah." I said as Kid Blink approached, followed closely by Snitch. "A couple of newsies. Don't they look upset…"

            Oh, I hated them. I hated them so bad that I could taste it. I wouldn't be working in a run-down Italian restaurant in Little Italy if it weren't for their antics. And here they were, looking not so high-and-mighty now.

            "Well, if it ain't da one eyed freak." I said right as they walked up to us. I could immediately tell that something was very wrong on their side of the tracks- Blink would never stop to talk to us unless there was big trouble.

            "Listen, you guys, I don't want any trouble. I just wanna know if you've seen Mush around heah." Blink asked, and I felt a really funny joke creeping up into my head. Before Morris could ruin it, I spoke.

            "Yeah, Blink, we saw him."

            "Really! Where?"

            "He was sellin' down by our restaurant on 5th when the quake hit."

            He almost took off, but I grabbed his arm. I could already see the confused look on Morris's face, because he knew as well as I did that we hadn't seen Mush all day, but luckily Blink and Snitch didn't see it. "I wouldn't if I was you." I said, shaking my head and trying to keep a serious look plastered on my face.

            "Why not?!" he asked, wrenching his arm away from me.

            "Cause…well…when that building fell…he just wasn't fast enough, Kid. No one survived the collapse."

            It was like I had told him that his entire family had burned up in a fire or something. His breathing suddenly hitched up, and his gaze fell to the ground. "No…he couldn't…"

            "I's sorry, Blink, really. Dat's da way it goes sometimes."

            "NO!" He suddenly turned around and took off running, followed by a frantic Snitch, and I replaced a cigarette in my mouth. I could practically feel Morris's disappointed gaze.

            "That was low, Oscar. Real low. Even for you."

            "Ah, well, they'll find each other soon enough. It's not like he's really Blink's gonna go kill himself or nothin'. Dey ain't _dat_ close."

Snitch

            "Blink! Wait up! Where are ya goin', Kid?"

            He suddenly spun around and grabbed me by the shirt. "Don't follow me. Go back and find Jack or someone ta tag along with. _Just don't follow me." _

            He let go and shoved me backward, and I suddenly realized it…he was headed for the Brooklyn bridge. I had to tell Jack before he did something stupid, because I sure couldn't stop him!

            I turned around and started running back, and about a minute later, I ran into someone and took them down to the cement with me.

            "I'm sorry, mister, I just…MUSH?"

            He looked up at me and smiled weakly. "Hey Snitch! What's got you in such a rush?"

            "But you's dead!"

            "Who told ya dat?"

            "Oscar and Morris…but…Blink, he…"

            "What about Blink? Is he okay?"

            I swallowed hard. "He's headed for da Brooklyn bridge right now. He…he thinks you's dead."

            The realization hit him the same as it had hit me. He grabbed a little kid who was standing behind him and pushed him to me. "Antonio, this is Snitch. He'll take you to the lodging house. Snitch, watch him for me. He's a new newsie."

            "Um…sure…"

            With that, he took off over the debris filled street toward the Brooklyn bridge.

            _God, I hope he gets there in time…_

AN: Haha, cliffhanger! The richness of it…anyway, we've got one more chapter to go, so hold on to your seats! Or whatever you're sitting in…yeah… 


	5. The End

AN: Time to get rid of that nasty cliffhanger! Read on and review for the end!

Kid Blink

            Mush was dead.

            My mind just couldn't seem to accept the words. It wasn't possible. I would never be seeing his smile, listening to his lame jokes, or watching him hawk the headlines again. All of it was gone. And for what? A lousy argument. If I hadn't said that, he would've been selling with me and not in Little Italy, the hardest hit. He would've survived.

            It was my fault that he died. If it weren't for my stupid temper, he would still be alive.

            Of course, the Delancey brothers could've been lying. But who would lie about something like this? I mean, even for them, that would be too low to stoop. I was just trying to come up with excuses when there never would be any.

            And so I stood there on the Brooklyn bridge, then center of it having collapsed into the river. No reason for me to not accidentally 'fall' in. There wasn't a railing to hold me back. And it was a long fall. Only fitting, with what I'd done to him.

            A sob broke the silence, and it took me a moment to realize that I was the one crying. There wasn't anyone else on the bridge. I didn't feel like I should- Mush never had the chance to cry before he died. And even if he had the chance, I don't think he would've. He was like that. He seemed sensitive, but he was tough as nails when it came right down to it.

            But no one would ever know that. And it was because of me. Hell, we'd even agreed on being each other's 'best man' come our wedding days. But that wouldn't happen either, would it?

            I lifted my face to look at the heavens, hoping that God could see my tears. Hoping that the so-called 'Holy Spirit' could feel my pain. Because the whole world would've shattered if it could. The sun was setting, but I felt like darkness had already taken over and shot down all hope.

            "You jest had ta take Mush, didn't you? Why couldn't ya take me instead, damn it? Why couldn't ya jest finish me off when ya had the chance?" I screamed, halfway expecting God to send some angel to kick me off the precipice and get it over with.

            But he didn't send an angel. He sent an aftershock.

            The ground suddenly started shaking again, and I jerked off balance, starting to fall forward over the edge. I never did fall, though. Someone grabbed onto the back of my shirt, yanking me back from the edge. I landed on my back on the cement, looking up at my savior, who happened to be…MUSH?!

            "I'm dead, ain't I? You's an angel, right?"

            He snickered, a sound that I realized I'd missed more than life itself. "I ain't an angel. But you was jest about dead right there, ya bum."

            I tackled him in a flying hug, knocking him over backwards and crying- now with joy. I don't think we even noticed when the ground stopped trembling.

            "I's sorry, Mush! I nevah shoulda said dat ta you! I's sorry!" I sobbed, and he just shook his head.

            "Dat was da least of my worries, Kid. I thought I lost you there for a second. And if dat happened…you wouldn't have been da only one fallin' off dat bridge tonight."

Narrative, back at the Lodging House

            After that kind of a day, all the boys walked back into the lodging house exhausted. The lodging house had taken the quake better than expected, and was actually one of the few buildings still structurally secure. Kloppman compared it to the resilience of the boys that lived in it.

            And soon, they were all gathered downstairs, all of them sharing their exciting 'earthquake stories', though some parts were omitted. Jack, Snitch, Mush, and Blink never did tell anyone what happened that night, they only said that they'd had 'quite an adventure' finding Mush. Dutchy didn't tell anyone that night about him saving the bookstore owner, though the man did eventually find him and tell him any book he ever wanted at the store was his for free, and he gave back the dime that Specs's present had cost him.

            And Specs did get his birthday party. Among his presents was Kloppman announcing that 'Angel', as she had come to be called, was the new lodging house mascot. It goes without saying that she was Dutchy's and Specs's selling partner from then on- but she slept on Skittery's bunk. No one ever found out how she got up there every night, but they assumed she was making sure that he didn't have any more 'mishaps'.

            And the next day, the presses rolled as usual, and the newsies had the best headlines of their lives.

*** The End ***

AN: Well, what did you think? Speak up, everyone! I'm really proud of this fic…I hope you guys like it…Please review!


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